[Edu-sig] Python + JS == more than their sum()

[Adam Morris]

It depends on whether or not we are wishing to teach future computer scientists, in which case having a stack with different languages makes sense.
However, in a general education middle school and high school context, where we are not assuming that, I think we should stick with one language to standardize upon, with other options being considered a “challenge” (and not the default). The IB Diploma Program asks students to write in pseudo-code, which is an awful lot like Python.


> On Nov 27, 2016, at 18:24, Mark Engelberg <mark.engelberg at gmail.com> wrote:
> 
> I'm going to play devil's advocate and say that I don't think it is wise to introduce multiple programming languages until fairly late in a student's programming education.
> 
> Let's imagine the following hypothetical conversation with an English teacher:
> 
> Parent: Do you teach kids how to write high-quality essays?
> Teacher: Absolutely.  There are a wide variety of tools used in the professional world, so we teach them all.  After kids learn how to write a pargraph, first we show them how to type it up in Microsoft Word, and how to apply fonts and colors.  Some may go on to become scientists and mathematicians, so we show them how to type the paragraph in LaTeX.  Sometimes, they may want to share with classmates, so we show them all the features of Google Docs.  And we also like to teach them how to type their paragraph in emacs in case they ever need to write essays on a unix terminal.  In our advanced class, we show them how to layout the essay with Microsoft Publisher.  We only use the latest... Publisher 2016, of course.  Gotta get these kids ready for the real world.
> Parent: Um, you're kind of missing the point.  When do you teach them how to construct a great essay?
> 
> I think most of us can look at this conversation and see the absurdity, but this is exactly what many teachers tend to do with programming.
> 
> Students do not need to learn multiple programming languages until they are quite advanced.  Students need to learn how to think deeply about modeling problems with data and algorithms.  As long as you pick a decent, multi-paradigm programming language as their first language, you won't run out of topics to teach within that language for many years.
> 
> All the time you spend showing kids how to convert the same shallow programs between different syntaxes is wasted time -- time that could be spent teaching them how to solve harder problems.
> 
> At some point, students who intend to program professionally do need to learn a variety of languages, but I think that point comes much later than a lot of teachers believe. 
> 
> 
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